It’s being hailed as Broadway’s biggest show on the West End’s biggest stage and I went into watching it knowing absolutely nothing. But I was excited. I went with a friend who was already a fan and when we entered the beautiful theatre 30 minutes before the show was set to start you could feel the anticipation in the air. Taking our seats in the dress circle I was ready to be whisked away for 2 and a half hours of magic. But, to be honest, it wasn’t great.

Last night I walked into the Bedford Pub in Balham with a friend feeling completely lost, neither of us had been to this theatre before and despite the clear signs pointing up the stairs it took us a minute to figure out where we were going. It didn’t matter, we were early and actually the first to arrive. Within 20 minutes the rest of the audience had trickled in totalling us at around fifteen. Probably less. I could feel the anticipation from all of us as we waited to enter. I had no idea what to expect. From reading the synopsis online I knew it would be incredibly interactive. It is described as a show the whole audience participates in, which excited and terrified me in equal amounts.

I went into watching this show not expecting much. It’s not something that had massively interested me and I wouldn’t be willing to pay to see it again. But I still went into watching it with an open mind. With a star studded cast of excellent comics I really wanted to be impressed and was excited at the prospect of 150 minutes of hilarity, unfortunately this wasn’t the case.

(Please note – this is a play I have read not a production I have seen on stage)

The average person will speak 123,205,750 words in their lifetime. But what would you do if a law was put into place that prohibited the amount of words you could use to only 140 per day. That, among other things, is what this play explores.

Last night I went to see the musical comedy Gary Barlow co-wrote based on the calendar girls. I wasn’t expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised and by the end of the show the cast of talented actors had really won me over. The Girls is a feel-good, entertaining, light-hearted and very enjoyable night out. I whole heartedly recommend it.

Half A Sixpence was a musical I went into watching knowing very little about. Of course I had seen advertisements dotted around on the tube or on Facebook and honestly, it didn’t look like the sort of show I would enjoy. I’m happy to say I was wrong. Half A Sixpence is an excellent piece of theatre and an incredibly fun musical. For me a sign of a good musical is if you catch yourself singing the songs afterwards. Well, I walked out of the doors of that theatre singing “Flash, Bang, Wallop” at full volume.

Mark Ravenhills 1996 dramatic comedy leaps off the stage, engaging you the second you walk into the theatre. With the raised seating in the stalls as well as seating on stage, this revival of Ravenhills first full length play engages the audience immediately.

Before the show even started the actors could be seen onstage chatting with audience members, even attempting to sell 50p badges to a few of us – quite successfully as most of those spoken to pulled out their purses, myself included. This charismatic cast forces the audience to feel entertained from the second they sit down and it’s great. Together they showed us bold, brave and unafraid performances. In a play that is so explicit they were confident and forced us to accept them for their craziness. In a show where emotions have been replaced by transaction, the depth of their characters and the underlying subtlety of feeling in their performances was quite fantastic.